Teenage drivers are the greatest hazard for the roads. Teens make up approximately around 7% of the entire driving population, but they are responsible for over 20% of all motor vehicle accidents in the US. 14% of all deaths related to motor vehicle accidents are caused by teens. These are just some of the frightening facts related to teen drivers. Well, not all teens are like that, but it is a hard fact that teens are the most reckless drivers in the world. So here are some hard boiled facts to help you realize how important is to teach your teen about driving responsibilities.

Several thousand teens between ages 13 and 20 are killed each year in motor vehicle accidents, of those, 16 year-olds are three times more likely to die in a motor vehicle accident than others. Teen drivers have a four time higher fatality rate than drivers ages 25 to 69.

Last year alone there were 3,466 teen deaths. Compared to the 70’s there is a 60% decline in the number of deaths, but this is still a vast number of deaths we are talking about. One single death is unacceptable, let alone thousands. 66% of all teens killed in motor vehicle accidents are males, so boys are the ones causing most of the road trouble and accidents, girls show more responsibility behind the wheel as most teen girls are afraid of their capabilities to drive, they lack confidence so they focus more on learning than boys.

Parents have to understand that motor vehicle accidents are the number one leading cause of death among teens, it’s not drugs, it’s not guns, it’s teens behind the wheel. But teens that cause driving accidents involve other people as well, several thousand of side passengers die when in an accident caused by a teen, people in other vehicles as well and almost a thousand of pedestrians die in vehicle accidents caused by teen drivers.

One quarter of teen drivers that caused a motor vehicle accident had an illegal amount of alcohol in their blood. One fifth of teen drivers that caused a motor vehicle accident had a previous conviction for speeding. There is also the cost to the society to consider when our teens are running wild in their new cars. We are talking about a price tag that goes to 40 billion dollars a year, 40 billion dollars paid by the government for damages caused by teen drivers.

This is more than enough to get parents and teens to learn the responsibility of driving. Teen drivers are a hazard on the road and it is our duty as parents to teach them responsibility and to make sure they stay responsible.
 

One of the most talked about issues in the past few weeks has been the driving age, when should kids get their drivers license. We will know soon what they decided, but depending on state to state of course the minimum driving age might be raised to 17 or 18 year old. To understand why that is now the issue we will talk about some statistics and reasons why driving at 18 is much different than driving at 16. US is one of the few countries that gives driving licenses for 16 year olds, and unfortunately US has the highest percentage of teen car accidents, that is to be expected.

First off there is the physiological development, a 16 year old is light years immature compared to an 18 year old. There is a world of difference how a 16 year old can comprehend and react. Teen drivers are a big risk, they are immature, inexperienced and they tend to underestimate the dangerous of the road. There are numerous facts that say that teenagers are just bad drivers and only a few of them can deal with this responsibility we bestowed upon them.
-    The leading cause of deaths for US teenagers are vehicle, car accidents
-    Over 5,000 teenagers die each year in car accidents, more than 3,000 of them didn’t have their seat belts on.
-    Over 300,000 teenagers are injured each year in car accidents
-    Fatality rate for teenagers compared to adults is 4 to 1
-    Over the past 10  years over 60,000 teenage drivers died in car accidents
These statistics are frightening, they really are. Once you look at these numbers and think about how many teen drivers you know that was in an accident or even died, you will realize why there is so much talk about raising the driving age. Teenagers will be mad and they will cause trouble but if raising the driving age limit to 18 will cause less accidents and less fatalities then we should all be for it. The research shows that 18 year old is more mature and will easily understand the basics unlike the 16 year old. But there is still much insecurity and they still are hot headed so there is not telling what they could do. If the researchers are correct than the ideal age for driving is over 25, but there isn’t a single person in the world that will wait until they are 25 to start driving. So only thing we can hope for is that 18 years old is more than enough to lower the fatality number of teen drivers.
Teen driving has become more than a risk in the US. If we were to look the statistics in Europe, where 18 year old is the minimum age for driving, we will see that number of fatalities is much smaller, in fact it’s twice smaller than in the US. Not just fatalities, but also the number of accidents is significantly smaller. So should driving age be raised to 18? My vote is yes, but I’m not the only one that gets to decide, we all do. The reason I am for it is that I would love to see more of our teenagers grow up and get to see what old age is like.